Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...
- The history and traditions of the holiday.
- The décor that filled our homes.
- The toys that defined each decade.
- The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
- The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).
Welcome back. Hope you had a great week. Did you know there are only 278 days until Christmas? Doesn't that sound crazy? Didn't we just pack away our decorations?
Photo credit: Getty Images
Today, we journey back to Christmas 1986. In the middle of the "Decade of Greed," everything was over the top, even our Christmas decorations. The hair was big. The music was wild. We had Valley Girls, Yuppies, Preppies, Headbangers, New Wavers, Skaters, and Surfer Dudes. Madonna begged "Papa Don't Preach," Whitney Houston asked, "How Will I Know," and Bon Jovi sang that "You Give Love A Bad Name."
If you were out and needed to reach your parents, you'd better have a quarter and a corner with a pay phone to call them. Malls were filled with teens dressed in oversized sweatshirts and leg warmers hugging their shins over their acid-wash jeans. They saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Aliens, and Labyrinth in the theater, and played Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda on Nintendo in their family rooms. They thought things were radical, bodacious, and tubular. During recess, kids ran around the schoolyard playing tag, Mother, May I?, and Red Rover.
The Sears Christmas Wish Book in 1986 featured lower prices on childhood favorites like Disneyland playsets, musical toys, rocking horses, and dollhouses. Cabbage Patch Kids and Teddy Ruxpin were sought-after toys.
Pound Puppies and My Pet Monster were popular stuffed animals in 1986. The Christmas bears below were found in many homes. I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law once owned one.
Photo credit: MLive
By the middle of the decade, the price of VCRs had come down enough that it was predicted 44.5% of households would own one, and Sony was advertising cordless phones. Camcorders also became a household staple.
Photo credit: Petal Pushers Nursery
We decorated our Christmas trees with satin ornaments, draping them in an overabundance of tinsel after wrapping them with layers of garland. Unless you owned a ceramic tree instead.
Did you enjoy our journey? What do you remember about Christmas 1986?
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